Eyeshield



Nov. 27, 1945. J. R. WYLDE ET AL 2,389,707

EYE SHIELD Filed Dec. 51, 1941 INVENTORS. J. R. VVYLDE.

RG PERRY 7 W W A77ORNEXS Patented Nov. 27, 1945 EYESHIELD Joseph Rowland Wylde and Richard Gilbert Perry, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application December 31, 1941, Serial No. 425,030 In Great Britain March 3, 1941 1 Claim.

source of light it is not suificient to provide a shield which merely reduces glare. For example,

oxyacetylene welders require protection both from the intense illumination and from particles of white hot metal which may fly off from the work. Again, in combating the menace of incendiary bombs, particularly of such types as are designed to scatter pieces of burning metal with considerable force, it is highly desirable to shield the eye from the glare and from the scattered metal. The present invention is particularly designed to satisfy these needs by providing a simple, inexpensive and light-weight shield.

According to the invention, transparent ortions of eye shields comprise a sheet of wire gauze in association with transparent plastic material coloured and/or pigmented to constitute a light filter and so disposed that light reaching the wearer's eyes through such portions passes through both gauze and plastic material.

The plastic material is advantageously in sheet form mounted on the inner face of the gauze and approximately coextensive with and conforming to the shape of the gauze. In this way, the plastic material itself is protected from scattered particles of metal and is shielded from a large part of the heat radiated from the source of light. Such sheet material may have a thickness of about 0.01 inch up to 0.04 inch, the greater thickness giving greater resistance to deformation of the wire gauze. Sheet of 0.02 inch thickness will usually be found to be very satisfactory. In alternative constructions the gauze may constitute the basis of a reinforced sheet of plastic material. Thus two sheets of plastic material may be applied to the gauze, one on each face and the assembly subjected to heat and pressure, so that there results a substantially unitary product.

It will be evident that the wire gauze may be made from various metals, such as, for example, iron, steel, brass or copper, and that the mesh of the gauze may fall within a range of about 15 to 30, e. g. 20. Preferably gauze made of a metal which i resistant to corrosion under its conditions of use is employed.

The plastic material is advantageously substantially non-inflammable and should possess a high melting point or be substantially infusible. Suitable plastic bases for such materials are, for example, polystyrene resins, thermo-plastic cellulose derivatives, and high-melting film-forming polyamides formed, for example, by condensing a diamine, e. g. hexamethylene diamine, with a dicarboxylic acid, e. g. adipic acid. Among suitable cellulose derivatives may be mentioned, for example, cellulose acetate, cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose aceto-propionate, cellulose aceto-butyrate, ethyl cellulose and hexyl ethyl cellulose. These bases are preferably plasticised with a fire-retarding plasticiser, for example with an alkyl, aryl or substituted alkyl or aryl phosphate, e. g. triphenyl phosphate or trichlorethyl phosphate, or mixtures of these with other plasticisers, e. g. a mixture of dimethyl phthalate and triphenyl phosphate.

It will be understood that it is important in securing that glare is reduced by the plastic material that it shall be of low transparency more particularly to yellow and red light, and it is therefore desirable that there shall be present in the plastic material some substance which increases its power of absorbing light of these colours. Preferably a dyestufi or a mixture of dyestuffs having afllnity for the base of the plastic material is employed, the composition and amount being such that the product has a dull blue or violet appearance when viewed in daylight. Dyestufls or pigments which are substantially without aifinity for the plastic base may, however, be employed alone or in admixture with dyestuffs having affinity. Thus, a particularly suitable colour formula for cellulose acetate sheet material for use according to the invention is as follows:

Parts by weight Carbonblack 40 Caledon blue- 45 l-amino-4-methyl-amino-anthraquinone l0 Methyl violet 5 The weight of the colour composition employed in the sheet will depend upon the thickness of the sheet and the degree of glare-reduction which is required. When employing sheets of thickness from 0.01 to 0.04 inch, a colour composition of the above formula may be employed in a proportion of about 0.3-0.07%, based on the weight of the sheet.

From the point of view of simplicity of construction and maximum angle of vision, it is of great advantage to provide an eye shield according to the invention in which wire gauze and plastic material in sheet form extend across the whole distance from one temple to the other. However, eye shields according to the invention may have other forms such as, for example, one in which two separate transparent portions are mounted on a sheet metal frame adapted to cover other parts of the face than those immediately adjoining the eyes, or in which,two such portions are linked by a flexible joint over the nose as in the usual type of goggles.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a plan of a blank of metal gauze for making up into an eye shield according to the invention in which the transparent portion extends from one temple to the other;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the eye shield made up from the blank shown in Fig, 1; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the eye shield of Fig. 2 taken on the line 3-3 of that figure viewed in the direction shown by the arrows.

The blank of gauze shown in Fig. 1 is converted into the desired form by folding on the broken lines ad, bd, a'd' and b'd', so that the edges ab, bc, a'b and b'c' all lie along the upper edge all of the blank. The gauze thus assumes a three-dimensional form. The edges of the gauze are sealed b a length of metal wire i2 soldered thereto, thus adding to the strength and life of the shield and covering the broken or cut ends of the gauze wires. A sheet of plastic material containing appropriate; colouring material is cut to the shape of the gauze blank except that it has triangular pieces corresponding to areas abd and a'b'd removed. The edges of the plastic material corresponding to be and b'c' are then brought to a position along the upper edge of the sheet to give the sheet a three-dimensional form corresponding to that of the folded gauze, and the shaped sheet is then fixed by clips ii on to the reverse or inner face of the gauze. A strip of felt, sponge rubber, or other soft and resilient material (not shown) is also fixed by clips I! on the inner side of part or all of the edge of the eye shield, particularly at those parts where it is likely to press closely on the wearer, so as to ease the pressure. A length of elastic tape I4 is threaded through slits ii to serve as a means for holding the eye shield in position on the wearer face.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

An eye shield comprising a body member of a width and depth to cover both temples, both eyes and the area of the face adjacent the eyes of a wearer, the body member comprising a sheet of wire gauze having the edge thereof bound by a reinforcing wire, a thin sheet of colored plastic material coextensive with the sheet of wire gauze and disposed on the inner face thereof, means securing the two sheets together adjacent the alined edges thereof, and a retaining member secured to the body member.

JOSEPH ROWLAND WYLDE. RICHARD GILBERT PERRY. 

